It's so easy to criticize your own time, and I see that as a problem, even for myself, as a listener.

If someone is making a judgment when they don't have firsthand experience, it's intolerant. How can you make a judgment on something you don't know about?

Somebody else is satisfied by five Bentleys. I'm satisfied by a beautiful string arrangement.

Maybe certain aspects of what I was doing were reacting against what was happening or what people said, too. That's something that happens when you're starting out. After some time goes by and you get a little perspective, you realize that you don't need to react. You can just carry on with what you're doing. That took me a long time figure out; I've only gotten to that point in the last five or 10 years.

I grew up I guess you'd say in the cassette era.

Most of my early records were not cohesive at all, just collections of demos recorded in different years. 'Odelay' was the first time I actually got to go in the studio and record a piece of music in a continuous linear fashion, although that was written over a year.

It's so easy to criticize your own time, and I see that as a problem, even for myself, as a listener.